A New Beginning
by AHeartFullOfFeels
Summary: What happens after the barricades fall? Starting with Enjolras's death and the fall of the barricades, it will become a Modern AU. Can they find each other again? R&R please!
1. Barricade Fall

_The rain started falling right after he saw her. She was lying in Marius' arms, her blood spilling onto her disguise. He felt his heart break as he watched her show her love for Marius as she lay dying._

"_and rain... will make the flowers..-" she had sung, stopping as she locked eyes with Enjolras. She started to open her mouth to say something to him, but the light was faded from her eyes, and she fell back. Marius kissed her forehead before letting some of the boys take her lifeless body away. Enjolras was glad of the rain in one sense, no one could see the tear that had rolled down his face._

Enjolras was cornered, his friends all dead, his revolution failed. He looked defeated in front of the four guns pointed at him. Then, that last bit of hope appeared, sober for once. As Grantaire past the soldiers to Enjolras, he felt his hope spark. One last act of defiance. One more chance to boil the blood of the people. He raised the flag high before the gunshot rang throughout the streets. Then silence fell as the soldiers left, leaving the street filled only with blood and bodies.

_Enjolras heard a voice. It was familiar, and it filled him with emotions from grief to love._

"_Enjolras, you were very brave. You died like a hero. Now it is time to move on from this world."_

_He blinked, seeing the streets upside down. He saw his friends lying dead and pulled himself up. There was someone moving in the street. A little boy. He went to Courfeyrac._

"_Come on, Courfeyrac! Time to wake up!"_

_Enjolras caught his breath when Courfeyrac arose, but his body stayed still. He looked inside the building, and Eponine was there, holding her hand out to him. He took it warily, unsure if she was real. She pulled him inside with a smile. He looked back to see himself still hanging out the window. Eponine knelt down to Grantaire._

"_Grantaire, wake up."_

"_I can't wake up, I'm dead." Grantaire responded, refusing to arise._

_Enjolras had to suppress a laugh as he looked down at his stubborn friend. He felt as if a weight had been lifted from him, and he could live happily now. Eponine giggled at Grantaire, looking to Enjolras for help._

"_Come on, old friend. You may not believe in God or Heaven, but you said you believed in me."_

_Grantaire opened his eyes and sat up, taking Enjolras' helping hand to pull himself to stand. Eponine beckoned for them to follow her._

"_Do you hear the people sing, lost in the valley of the night? It is the music of a people who are climbing to the light." she sang softly as they went downstairs to meet the others. _

_The boys hugged each other, brother with brother. Gavroche joined Eponine with the song._

"_For the wretched of the earth, there is a flame that never dies, even the darkest night will end and the sun with rise!" they sang as they led them through a golden doorway of light. "They will live again in freedom in the garden of the Lord, they will stand behind the plowshare, they will put away the sword," some of the boys began to sing with them. "The chain will be broken and all men will have their reward!" Enjolras and the rest joined the song._

"_Do you hear the people sing, say do you hear the distant drums? It is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes!"_


	2. Meeting New Old Friends

It was beautiful. It looked like the Cafe, where they where all together again. Only this time, they didn't need to plan a revolution, and could just be themselves. Enjolras smiled as he looked around his group of friends with a smile, Eponine next to him. He took the courage and took her hand, his heart light. It was then he noticed something.  
"Where's Marius?"  
"Marius is alive. He's going back to his Cosette... He'll be happy in his life with her... My heart aches, but I am gone... and he was never mine." Eponine said.  
"Will you be okay?" Enjolras asked her, trying not to feel hurt.  
"I have my brother, you, the Amis, and a free world... I won't have to worry about my father and his gang, of me or Gavroche nearly starving in the streets, of any pain at all. I can get a chance to start over almost, to live a new life in this Heaven, and I can have an angel to spend it with."  
"An angel?"  
"Yes. An angel who is a strong leader, whose voice can kindle the flames in the hearts of the people. He doesn't know he has those wings, but he mends my heart with every word he says."  
"Do you love him? Even more than your Marius?"  
"He was never mine. And I will only say if I know he loves me..."  
She looked up at him, his bright blue eyes mere centimeters away from her brown ones.  
"I know he does."  
The space between them disappeared as their lips connected, a soft loving gentleness that grew to a flaming passion as their hearts beat together as one.

_**_LINEBREAKTIMESKIP_**_

**ENJOLRAS**

The scene faded away, leaving only the people. They could see only white and each other. But even as they thought the words, they were suddenly pulled away, each making a wild grab for someone. The rest were gone as Enjolras looked around for his friends, for Eponine... Eponine... the name was seeming like someone of the past... maybe he'd met someone of the name long ago?... Did he know an Eponine? The name was lost to him as he forgot why he was panicking, he didn't know anyone. What was his own name? He thought hard to remember what his name was. It came to him as his new memories overtook the old ones in the back of his mind, and everything went dark.

***Joel POV***  
Joel opened his eyes to the sunlight starting to peak in through the window.  
He quickly jumped out of bed and threw on some jeans, a black tee shirt, and a red plaid shirt. He quickly ran his fingers through his short, golden, curly hair, then headed to his car.  
The sun was just starting to rise as he drove, singing along with the radio, his voice strong and arrived to his destination just as the clock said noon.  
Barry Cade University was filled with new students finding out how the school worked and where their rooms were. Joel followed the crowd to where the keys were being distributed. He soon passed through the line and received his dorm key. He followed the directions to his dorm.

***Ebony POV***  
"Gaven! Time to wake up!" Ebony called to her brother sweetly.  
She was looking over her new work schedule, waiting and cleaning in a Cafe on the campus of the University nearby. A little boy of nine years old, with blonde hair that was halfway down his ears, walked into the room sleepily. He saw the toast Ebony had made for him and quickly perked up. She laughed as he scarfed it down hungrily.  
"Hurry and get dressed, we have to leave for the first day of school."  
"I'm gonna be in the third grade, and Benny said that you get to learn multiplication." he said, going back to his room across the hall. "Ya know, I'm gonna miss you next year, when ya go off to college."  
"I'll still be here, it's not far away, you silly little boy."

***Joel POV***  
He opened the door to find who he assumed was his roommate. It was a boy with dark curly hair, wearing a shirt promoting some sort of liquor.  
"Hey, I'm Grant," he said.  
"Joel. I'm guessing you're my roommate?"  
"You guessed correctly, such a smart boy. I'll just warn you now, I like to drink. So if you could make sure I don't do anything too stupid, that would be great. And I'll apologize in advance for any drunk singing."  
"Uhhh..." that was all he could say.  
This is going to be a long year...

***Ebony POV***  
Ebony gave Gaven a tight squeeze before he ran off to join his friends in the classroom, ready to tell them about all of the trouble he got in over the summer. After he was situated, she then went to her own classroom. The school was titled "Saint Michele High", but it educated kids from elementary to high school. She was about to take on her last year there. She had been there since 6th grade, but knew almost no one. She knew who people were, and they knew who she was, but she was alone.

***Joel POV***  
After meeting Grant, Joel departed to his first class, the study of Politics. He was greatly intrigued by the lecture, taking note of almost every word the professor said. Almost through with the lecture, the teacher was interrupted by an objection.  
"The government isn't the strongest point of Politics! It would be the people, because there would be no need to debate most of the things debated if it wasn't for the citizens!"  
Everyone turned to see who was interrupting. It was a boy, who was a bit short and broad, but not unattractive, as some of the few girls in the class pointed and giggled to themselves upon seeing him. The bell signaling to go to the next class rang.  
Joel went up to the boy, who was gathering things, a bit lost in thought.  
"Brave of you to interrupt and disagree with the teacher on the first day," he said to him, breaking him out of his thought.  
"Yeah, but I'm all about logic and philosophy." he replied with a slightly uneasy smile, unsure whether than was a compliment or not.  
"I never thought of politics in that sort of manner, but it's a good point." Joel said to him praisingly.  
"Thanks. I'm Ferris." the boy said.  
"Joel," he said as they walked together out of the classroom. "There's a Cafe right off campus, do you want to meet me there afterschool? It would be nice to know someone."  
"Sure. If I make any other friends, I'll bring them too." Ferris said, before he walked off to class.

Joel got to his next class just before the bell, French. He sat next to a boy who was dressed a little weirdly. His pants were a dark blue and a little wide, they seemed to hang off of him. He wore a green, bright green, sweater over a white shirt that was sticking out. His curly red hair was a bit long and tied up in a ponytail, which a purple beret was sitting on. He was writing something in a journal, filling up a page. Joel looked closer at the notebook, and saw that it was poetry. The boy's face looked young and innocent, quite content and inspired as his pen flew across the page in a neat cursive. He was able to make out a couple poems.

_Love is the moon shining_  
_across the water that is still_  
_Love such a joy_  
_A never-ending thrill_

_The rain will wash away the past_  
_leaving only the pieces broken_  
_When that life has gone away_  
_The love will be a token_

"Wow, those are really sappy." he remarked aloud, partly on accident.  
The boy jumped in his seat, looking a mixture of surprised and a little fearful. He held the notebook in front of him like a shield. He looked and saw Joel and immediately turned red in the face, using it now as a mask. Joel subconsciously felt the need to protect this strange, fragile, innocent mess.  
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. Those are good. Do you like poetry?" Joel asked him gently.  
The boy nodded, not showing his face.  
"I'm Joel."  
"J-John... I'm called J-Jehan..." he sounded very nervous, but dared to peek his head out from under the notebook.  
"That's an artsy name."  
"Yeah... I like artsy things." he said with a bit more confidence as he realized this was a friendly face.  
"Like what?"  
"I like poetry of course, especially ancient epics and love. I also play the flute in band, and I'm going to join the Gardening Club. And I also am taking French, English, Latin, and Greek." he said as if he was talking to someone he knew, at least somewhat.  
"Sure you can handle all of that?" Joel asked, surprised.  
Jehan nodded with a still-shy smile.

By the time the last bell rang for classes to end, Joel had met Courey, a party animal who was actually very smart and sweet, Billy, a guy who was homeschooled all of his life, and many girls who had flirted with him. Throughout the day he had felt the stares and heard the giggles of girls whom he didn't look twice at. He didn't have very many beliefs in love at all, except he had always felt like he was looking for someone. His soulmate, to say.  
He walked into the Cafe and saw a girl, younger than him, but only just, starting her work at the Cafe. He stopped.

_**She looked familiar.**_


	3. Someone Familiar

_Joel could swear he'd seen her face before. He felt frozen, staring at the girl. He felt as if his heart had been pierced by every weapon known to man._  
He heard someone call his name. He broke away from his gaze and saw Ferris; he was sitting at a table with a group of boys, some recognized, some familiar. He saw Jehan and Courey talking to one another, Billy talking to a masculine boy wearing a leather jacket. Ferris had saved him a seat in between him and Courey. Joel was kind of glad, so far he liked the braniac and the child-like youth.  
He sat at his seat, and everyone started quieting down.  
"Hello everyone." He said to them. "I don't know all of you, and I know not everyone knows each other. Why don't we go around and introduce ourselves?"  
"Oh, and we can each say something about ourselves too, like they do in camps and stuff!" Courey suggested excitedly.  
Joel and some others nodded in agreement.  
"Alright. So I'm Joel, and... I'm a 'revolutionary god', as I've been called."  
"Ferris, I like books and philosophy, which I will be majoring in."  
"Hey, I'm Billy. I've been 'homeschooled', which for me, actually means I learned everything I know from books and google. So this is my first year at an actual school... I also like to make fans."  
"Orel," said the leather-clad man with a slight accent, dropping it as he continued, "I'm a badass. Nothin' more to know."  
"Hello you lovely people, I am Grant." Joel hadn't even realized that his roommate, which he didn't care much for, was sitting there. "The world and everything else sucks, so I drink a lot. And Joel is stuck with me for the year because we were assigned in the same dorm. And that's gonna be fun."  
Grant finished with a wink at Joel, which he ignored, continuing.  
"I have many names, but usually Bassett is what I'm called. I'm horribly unlucky and clumsy and a failure in everything." He sounded happy despite his words.  
"I am Joey. I'm a doctor-in-training, and I often get sick."  
He was replied with "No, he's just a hypochondriac" by Bassett, to which was then lightly hit by the boy.  
"Um... hi.. I'm John... or Jehan. I like writing poetry.. and playing the flute, and gardening, and learning languages.." he quickly sat back down.  
"Courey, at your service! Wild party animal, whether it be a kids birthday party, or a college party, I am the best of the best. I am also quite good with the ladies." He then sat back down with a flourish.  
"Alright... So, I guess that we can just sit and get to know each other now." Joel said, leaving them to start talking once again. "I'm going to get a coffee." He said to Ferris.  
"Coffee? Its afternoon!" Ferris said.  
"I like coffee, and I need to see if this coffee is good." He said behind him as he walked over to the counter.  
The girl he saw earlier was behind it.

Ebony looked up from where she was trying to figure out how to divide out her earnings for food and bills. She stared for maybe a moment too long at the blonde boy in front of her, before remembering that she had a job.  
"What can I get you?"  
"Um.. just plain coffee, nothing in it, please."  
She rang up the total, he paid, and she went to get his coffee.

_She had thought nothing really about it, and unaware that he had been feeling his heart race, soar, fall, die in a matter of seconds._

She returned with his coffee. He smiled as he took it, almost shyly. She couldn't help but smile back. He started to walk away, then turned back and looked at her.  
"Anything else?" She asked him.  
"...What's your name?" Joel asked as he walked back to the counter.  
"Ebony..."  
"Nice to meet you, I'm Joel. I figured it would be good to at least know your name, I'll be coming here a lot. This lot will probably be coming too."  
She nodded shyly. "Alright. I'll keep an eye out for you guys. I don't quite know how often that will be."  
"What do mean?"  
"I'm a senior in high school, and I'm usually busy with school and homework and stuff, so I'll only be working certain times."  
"Oh.. that sounds fun."  
"Exhausting."


End file.
